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Tag: preparation

Let’s keep this fun and light for today’s sake. It is Tuesday and nobody should have to read a long paragraph today — but tomorrow I will have 5 long paragraphs for you to read … Just kidding! LOL (or am I)?

As a regular gym-goer (who attends the gym at least 5 times a week), I have to have my gym essentials– it is VERY important to me because hey, the gym is like my second home. Literally.

Sometimes I find myself carrying a heavy gym bag and other times, I get lucky and it is light as a feather, but regardless, I ALWAYS have my gym bag with me when heading to the gym. What else?

Deodorant –— because even though I apply it to my armpits before heading to the gym, I bring it just in case I need to reapply it after a shower, or if I happen to need to reapply it during a workout — I prefer to NOT spell like B/O if possible.

lotion—— mainly because I don’t want to have ashy skin. I know we are there to workout, but I like to look decent.

Ipod-— because music if life and I need it to function at the gym for long periods of time. Our gym plays music but sometimes I’d rather to listen to my own playlist

Headphones—– to keep people from wanting to strike up conversation with me because when I am at the gym, I am ALL about my focus and zone. I talk to people of course but very rarely and that is if I choose to talk to them first.. save the small talk for after the workout is my motto ALSO, because I like carrying extra pair of headphones in case mine break or lose them

Deep Blue Rub Lotion — I bring this because it helps with sore muscles and cramping..so if I have soreness, I can rub some of this on before or after the workout and it works wonders.

Ibuprofen-— I like to bring this over the counter medication just in case it is THAT TIME OF MONTH for us ladies or just as back up for any pain.

My written workout/workouts-— I bring this because I always have my workout for the day planned out ahead of time and record everything via pencil/paper.

extra clothes— If I want to change afterwards or maybe I am wearing shorts during the workout but post workout want to wear pants because it is cold outside, etc. I bring hoodies and jackets as well for the same reasons

I am willing to assume that many of you have a New Year’s resolution and out of the many of you, most of you will have one that deals with “losing weight, gaining muscle, being fit” , etc. All of which fall into the category of “wanting to change your appearance” in some way or fashion. About this time, this means more and more articles are hitting the social media platforms/websites about ways to lose weight, gain muscle, be lean, etc — which translates to many of you will be hopping on board with the ideas and come to realize:

1) they don’t work (not for everyone)

2) you can’t sustain it for the long term

3) it gives short term results

4) you give up because you lack the motivation

5) you financially cannot afford it

6) You make up excuses for why you can’t start “now”

7) you have been relying on your friends and family to take part in it with you and when they quit, you quit.

8) you didn’t do enough research on the matter, so you end up hurting yourself.

9) You didn’t have a backup plan in place for when you fail

10) most the shit you see is the same shit you have seen before — just a new name attached.

&& if that isn’t enough, you are becoming DESPERATE – which means you try anything and everything and when nothing works or when you hit a plateau or when things become hard, you GIVE UP.

Sadly, we get so worked up for the New Year, that we forget we have been through this same cycle over and over and over again. So.. Quit the cycle. Quit being desperate. Quit being a follower of a new fad/trend and do something different this year. This year: Work for it. Be patient. Be informative. Be determined. Be motivated. Be disciplined. Be mentally prepared. Be good to yourself. Be Strong. Be Unstoppable.

There is no secret to this fitness thing, because everyone has a different formula. I found my own that worked for me, I constantly struggle but I manage to still have enough in me to keep going. If you want something bad enough for yourself, you will find a way, a way that works perfectly for you & when it gets harder — you won’t give up but instead be strong and continue on.

Last Saturday I missed the opportunity to share a recipe with all of you, but was able to do one on my podcast last Thursday. This particular recipe, is for anyone who enjoys sweet potatoes, personally, I do not, so I most likely will not give this a try, but my family loves it so I know they make something with similar ingredients during the holiday months. Hopefully this quick recipe will be one you share with the folks.

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes

maple syrup (preferably pure) 2 tbsp

cinnamon 1/4 tsp

nutmeg 1/4 tsp

pepper 1/4 tsp

salt 1/2 tsp

olive oil 1 1/2 tbsp

Directions:

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or tin foil and spray it. (or without use of parchment paper and spray it with cooking spray)

Cut the sweet potatoes in cubed shaped, and place them inside a mixing bowl. Add the olive oil and maple syrup on top of them, then sprinkle the spices, mix together until the sweet potatoes are well covered

Dump onto the cookie sheet and bake them for 15-20 minutes (should be tender and slightly crispy) and you will want to stir the sweet potatoes half way through cooking time.

How can I say this politely without offending anyone, hmm? Talk less and do more. Sounds easy enough, but guess how many people say they will do something and talk a big game, but when the time comes, hey.. they are still talking about it and yet haven’t taken any action.

We all like to talk about goals, talk about doing vacations and talk about losing weight, eating healthier, driving the speed limit, and what not, but as soon as the time comes where we need to take action, we don’t. We end up regretting it 30 days later and then end up starting where we were: talking a good game but still haven’t done shit about it. The majority of people who “talk” more are talking because they are hoping that someone will enable them to do it, give them a reason to do whatever it is they want to do.. so when someone says “wow, that is cool, you should do it” , it doesn’t mean back out and and turn around and count all the excuses, it means do it, like actually do it.

This whole thing works for multiple things, but as a fitness/health blogger, I figured I better talk about this subject to narrow things down. So many people want to start something: CrossFit, obstacle courses, weight loss, weight gain, fitness apps, fitness blogs, group fitness, etc and yet so many of those people end up not going through with it for different reasons. I hear it all the time, “I want to start losing weight, but.. it is hard and I have tried it before and didn’t work”, why didn’t it work? because you didn’t start realistically, you started with too high of expectations, you didn’t have the support necessary and your motivational level was running dry, not to mention you put other things first and it didn’t help with making your health a priority. Am I mad at you? no, not at all. It isn’t easy to do what we say sometimes, sometimes we run into issues that life throws at us and we have to reorganize our priorities and it becomes frustrating. Trust me, I know this for fact happens, it has happened to me so many different times; continues to happen to me. I didn’t make this post to criticize you, I made this post to help myself do what needs to be done in order to do what I want to do.

I came up with a plan on how I can talk less and do more and it starts with:

Taking control of needs and wants

making people apart of my plans, either they support my goals, journeys, choices or they don’t, but if they don’t, get out of the way.

know my purpose for wanting to do something or needing to do something; purpose helps

Don’t do something based on the fact others do it, do it because you want to do it

Either I start today or I don’t start at all (metaphorically speaking) don’t have a deadline, just start when you are ready and come prepared.

don’t give up and don’t give in to negativity

Short list but helpful list. Sometimes we struggle taking action and when we do, we look for a purpose and reason and well, this list is my way of helping you and helping myself with whatever it is you need help getting started in. If we talk about wanting to do something, then let’s be the proof we did it!